Archive for 2011:

Doesn’t sound like very tasty eating, right? Well, according to Bruce Bradley, a former food executive, these questionable ingredients have been given more pleasant-sounding names and added to processed foods labeled “all natural”. So all those “natural” foods you’ve been eating lately under the assumption they’re purer and healthier can easily contain any of […]

For newcomers, New York City’s energy, speedy pace and wow cast of characters can be an assault on the senses, so here are a few safety tips to ease you into the NYC saddle. Number one: be constantly aware of everything and everyone around you. When my teen-age niece first visited me, I stressed this […]

The first snow of the season is falling today so it’s time to break out my favorite soup recipe. I found this basic recipe a while back in Good Housekeeping as part of a seven day all-you-can-eat soup diet. Since then I’ve jazzed it up with the addition of herbs and garlic, experimented with substituting […]

Oh boy! Over a week before Halloween and ALREADY the shelves in the 99-Cent store are stuffed with Christmas glitz. Stores roll out their Christmas goodies earlier every year, but this — with Thanksgiving more than a month away — is Crazyville. Or so I think till a little research informs me that 40% of […]

Can you picture the Wicked Witch of the West living in extravagantly expensive New York or San Francisco? No way. Smart in the ways of low cost real estate, that green faced, frugal master cast her evil spells in a castle far beyond the most distant boondocks, where land and tax costs have always been […]

Most readers get to my blog after fairly mundane Google searches. But some of these information seekers arrive with such peculiar, downright oddball queries, I can’t help but wonder about them. Here are a few of those singular queries (in bold italic, spelling and grammar uncorrected): “Which procedure is less expensive for funeral – creamation […]